I had no plans to look at the Blue Jays-Giants series opener at beautiful Oracle Park in San Francisco because neither starting pitcher is having a good season. But I just came across something quite stunning regarding Giants right-hander Landen Roupp as he tries to avoid a franchise record for futility. It's a 9:45 p.m. ET first pitch.
The 27-year-old Roupp was a very solid pitcher his first two seasons in the Show with the Giants and was one of the early stories this season in the National League. After beating the Marlins on April 26, he improved to 5-1 with a 2.55 ERA on the season and was getting a little Cy Young love down the board. Roupp hasn't won since and the Giants haven't won a game started by him in that span.
San Francisco lost its 11th straight Roupp start last Tuesday in Arizona as he was hammered for six runs and five hits while walking six in a blowout loss. That dropped Roupp to 0-7 with a 5.87 ERA and 1.68 WHIP since that Marlins victory. It's yet another disaster in a disastrous season for the Giants under first-year manager Tony Vitello.
The only other time the Giants lost 11 straight starts in a single season by one pitcher was the final 11 outings in 1984 by Mark Davis â who would eventually win the NL Cy Young Award in 1989 as a reliever with the San Diego Padres. And over that stretch, in which Davis did also appear in relief a few times, he went 0-8 with a 6.98 ERA. Overall, Davis finished that season a brutal 5-17 with a 5.36 ERA in 46 appearances and 26 starts.
This will be Roupp's first career start vs. the Jays, and he's 2-4 with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP in seven home starts this season. The SportsLine Projection Model forecasts him for 5.1 innings, 5.4 strikeouts, 5.0 hits allowed and 1.8 earned runs on Monday. To win, he's +175 with No at -246.
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Maybe the Blue Jays are just what Roupp needs as they are scoreless in their past 24 innings. They scored two runs in the third inning Friday night in Seattle and then blanked the rest of the series.
Roupp is countered by the Blue Jays' Kevin Guasman, who pitched well for the Giants from 2020-21 but is having a down year (as is Toronto) at 4-7 with a 4.19 ERA. He has been quite worse away with a 5.30 ERA.
I don't play a lot of hitting props but I'm pondering one of two Giants who have hammered Gausman in Luis Arraez (9-for-12, two 2B, 3B) and Rafael Devers (11-for-33, seven 2B, HR). Devers is getting hot, homering twice Sunday, amid a flurry of trade rumors. Arraez is probably a goner as well by Aug. 3. The Giants might be the biggest sellers around.
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I won't count this as one of my official plays, but let's have a little fun and throw a half-unit on Blue Jays Over 2.5 runs scored and Devers Over 1.5 total bases at a stellar parlay price of +214. Check out other expert picks in the SportsLine daily newsletter.
